Sandy,

Looks like Kipling was right. Thousands of slaves it seems fled the United States for the 'freedom' of Nova Scotia.   I put 'Negroes & "Cape Breton"' into Google and it returned all sorts of stuff including census returns and reproductions of Contemporary Documents. The link to the Empire Loyalists is particularly interesting.

This is a chapter of History I had absolutely no inkling of. Kipling's cook was probably not an isolated incident. I'm not quite sure what this adds to the discussion about Gaelic singing in the States, but as a potential aspect of Gaelic Language transmission, it is something of a surprise to me.

Amazing what turns up when you start digging.

SM